University of Virginia Library

SCENE THE SECOND.

Ægisthus, Clytemnestra.
Ægis.
Hast thou perform'd the deed?

Cly.
Ægisthus ...

Ægis.
What do I behold? Oh, lady,
What dost thou here, dissolved in useless tears?
Tears are unprofitable now, and vain,
And they may cost us dear.

Cly.
Thou here? ... but how?
Wretch that I am! what have I promised thee?
What impious counsel? ...

Ægis.
Was not thine this counsel?
Love gave it thee, and fear recants it.—Now,
Since thou art repentant, I am satisfied;
Soothed by reflecting that thou art not guilty,
I shall at least expire. To thee I said
How difficult the enterprize would be;
But thou, depending, more than it became thee,
On that, which is not in thee, virile courage,
Daredst thyself thy own unwarlike hand
For such a blow select. May heaven permit,
That the mere project of a deed like this,
May not be fatal to thee! I by stealth,
Protected by the darkness, hither came,
And I hope unobserved. I was constrain'd
To announce to thee, myself, that now my life
Is irrecoverably forfeited
To the king's vengeance. ...

Cly.
What is this I hear?
Whence didst thou learn it?

Ægis.
More than he would wish,
Atrides hath discover'd of our love;
And I already from him have received
A strict command not to depart from Argos.
And further, I am summon'd to his presence
Soon as to-morrow dawns. Thou art convinced
That such a conference to me is death.
But fear not; for I will all means contrive
To draw the blame entirely on myself.

Cly.
What do I hear? Atrides knows it all?

Ægis.
He knows too much. I have but one choice left:
It will be best for me to evade by death,
By self-inflicted death, this perilous inquest.
I save thy honour thus, and free myself
From an opprobrious end. I hither came
To give thee my last warning, and to take
My last farewell... Oh live, and may thy fame
Live with thee, unimpeach'd! Pity no more,
Whom pity cannot aid: if I'm allow'd
By my own hand, for thy sake, to expire,
I am supremely blest.

Cly.
Alas! ... Ægisthus ...
What a tumultuary rage I feel
Within my bosom, when I hear thee speak! ...
And is it true? ... Thy death? ...

Ægis.
'Tis more than certain ...

Cly.
And I am thy murderer! ...

Ægis.
I desire thy safety.

Cly.
What beckoning fury from Avernus' shore
Accompanies thy steps? Oh, I had died,
If I had never seen thee more, of grief;
But guiltless I had died: spite of myself,
Now, by thy presence, I already am
Again impell'd to this tremendous crime...
An anguish, an unutterable anguish,
Lives in my bones; in every fibre lives.
And can it be, that this alone can save thee?
But who reveal'd our love?

Ægis.
To speak of thee,
Who, but Electra, to her father, dare?
Who, to the monarch, breathe thy name, but she?
Thy impious daughter in thy bosom thrusts
The fatal sword; and ere she takes thy life
Would rob thee of thy honour.

Cly.
And ought I
This to believe? ... Alas!

Ægis.
Believe it thou
On the authority of my sword, if thou
Believest it not on mine. Ah, may I die
At least in time ...

Cly.
Oh heaven! what wouldst thou do?
Sheathe, I command thee, sheathe that fatal sword.
Oh night of horrors! ... hear me ... perhaps Atrides
Has not resolved.

Ægis.
What boots this hesitation?
Atrides injured, and Atrides king,
Meditates nothing in his haughty mind
But blood and vengeance. Certain is my death;
Thine is uncertain: but reflect, oh queen,
To what thou art destined, if he spare thy life.
And were I seen to enter here alone,
And at so late an hour ... Alas, what fears
Harrow my bosom when I think on thee!
Soon will the dawn of day deliver thee
From racking doubt: that dawn I ne'er shall see;
I am resolved to die. Farewell ... for ever!

Cly.
Stay, stay ... Thou shalt not die.

Ægis.
By no man's hand,
Assuredly, except my own; or thine,
If so thou wilt. Ah, perpetrate the deed;
Kill me, and drag me, palpitating yet,
Before thy austere judge: my blood will be
A glorious acquittance.

Cly.
Maddening thought!
Wretch that I am! ... Shall I be thy assassin?

Ægis.
Shame on thy hand, that cannot either kill
Who most adores thee, or who most detests thee.
Mine then must serve. ...

Cly.
Ah! no. ...

Ægis.
Dost thou desire
Me, or Atrides, dead?

Cly.
Ah! what a choice!

Ægis.
Thou art compell'd to chuse.

Cly.
I inflict death? ...

Ægis.
Or death receive; when thou hast witness'd mine.

Cly.
Ah, then the crime is too inevitable!

Ægis.
The time now presses.

Cly.
But the courage, ... strength? ...

Ægis.
Strength, courage, all, will love impart to thee.

Cly.
Must I then with this trembling hand of mine
Plunge ... in my husband's heart ... the sword?

Ægis.
The blows
Thou wilt redouble with a steady hand,
In the hard heart of him who slew thy daughter.

Cly.
Far ... from my hand ... I hurl'd the sword ... in anguish ...

Ægis.
Behold a sword, and of another temper:
The clotted blood-drops of Thyestes' sons
Still stiffen on its frame. Do not delay
To furbish it once more in th'impious blood
Of Atreus; be quick: there now remain
But a few moments; go. If awkwardly
The blow thou aimest, or if thou should'st be
Again repentant, lady, ere thou givest it,
Do not thou any more toward these apartments
Thy footsteps turn: by my own hands destroy'd,
Here would'st thou find me in a sea of blood
Immersed. ... Ah go, and tremble not; be bold,
Enter, and save us by his death.